Pairings Symposium

Before half term and the chaos that was context presentations, I attended a symposium on an exhibition called Pairings at MMU. The concept behind the exhibition was bringing together practitioners of different disciplines from different institutions and those in their own practice and seeing what the results would bring. Several of the pairings presented their 'journeys' and they were really fascinating, you could feel the vibrancy and enthusiasm and the excitement that had been generated by the collaborations. My favourite work was that of Sharon Blakey & Ismini Samanidou and Clinton Cahill & Cate Watkinson there was a real dynamism to the pairings and this came through in the work. Well worth a visit if at MMU, in the library at All Saints in the Special Collections.

There was also a talk by Glenn Adamson curator of the V&A who edited The Craft Reader, his title was Affective Objects-Design & Reinvention of Craft, interesting notion that before the industrial revolution there was no 'craft' and that as the arena of craft and art continues to be questioned and reassessed it could be viable to look back at history pre 1750 when craftspeople had others to do their work.  He talked of Claire Toomey and how her work is emotionally charged with both Monument where she re assembled  ceramic shards on a grand scale, but then when the exhibition was dismantled the pieces went to Pilkingtons and were recreated into tiles, so the tiles could be anywhere. As in Trophy where she created jasperware birds in the V&A Medieval Gallery and invited the viewer to take them away an allegory of the loss of industry and creating a different way to interact with the audience. Also talked of the efficacy of objects. I found this a fascinating talk and look forward to the new book, it also made me feel a little ignorant!!!!!